Mediaweek has recently opened the voting in our second annual Industry Awards as voted by our readers.
The poll will remain open until the end of Sunday December 8. The results will be released later this month via the Mediaweek website.
Again we have tried to limit the number of categories. In some we have suggested a range of nominees, while in others left it up to readers to nominate their favourites.
One of the categories that created much discussion last year was CEO of the Year. The award went to Nine Entertainment Co’s Hugh Marks as he and his team integrated the massive Fairfax Media group into the Nine TV and digital publishing businesses. He is more recently working on adding the Macquarie Media radio business.
Hugh Marks
One newcomer getting a few votes so far is Seven’s new CEO James Warburton.
All fields are very competitive, but never more so than in the television space where there is much on offer.
Last year’s winners were Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell (Comedy), Gogglebox (Reality), Wentworth (Drama) and Working Dog (Production).
Wentworth
The drama field had a number of new entrants including the already multi-award winning Lambs of God from Foxtel plus 10’s Five Bedrooms and ABC’s Total Control. Much was expected of the return of Nine’s SeaChange and SBS was pleased with the reception The Hunting received.
SeaChange
Also on the list is Ludo Studio, home to the much-loved and much-award kids’ series Bluey.
For radio we are trying something a little different this year. Completely open categories for each metro market breakfast show and then a separate category for AM breakfast and overall drive radio.
Radio winners last year were Jonesy and Amanda (Sydney), Fifi, Fev and Byron (Melbourne), Marto, Robin and Moonman (Brisbane), Jodie and Soda (Adelaide) and Nathan, Nat and Shaun (Perth).
Brendan “Jonesy” Jones and Amanda Keller – Australian Radio Network (WSFM 101.7)at ACRA’s 2019
Best AM breakfast went to 3AW’s Ross and John, while FM drive winner was Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty.
The streaming categories include the major players Netflix, Stan and Amazon, plus the local BVOD players and the newcomers Apple TV+ and Disney+. Netflix is the incumbent and could be hard to beat.
In sport we haven’t gone for nominations as that could have been very contentious amongst sports fans.
Instead voters can choose their best commentator, however we have nominated a number of sports shows and major sporting events.
Bruce McAvaney
Bruce McAvaney won Best Sports Commentator in 2018, while The Matty Johns Show was best on TV.
The podcast field has been narrowed to nine series from media people. Last year’s winner was The Teacher’s Pet.
Australia’s Best Print Magazine category is again a wide-open field with initial votes seeing contenders from all categories. Although the sector continues to go through a transitional period, many strong titles are still thriving.
TV Week was the winner last year.
Best Australian News Brand is a difficult category for some to choose if they take their news from many places. ABC News took the honours in 2018.
Leigh Sales.
The Best Australian Journalist/Columnist could work in any media discipline and again the list of possible contenders is a long one. ABC was a winner again here in 2018 with our readers choosing Leigh Sales.